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The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice

William Shakespeare's play "The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice," considered one of his four great tragedies. Othello is a black general who is manipulated by his jealous ensign Iago, ultimately driving the noble Moor insane.

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What are some of the racist insults to Othello in the play?

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No. It's difficult to see how a story of passion and politics, love and betrayal can have a racial connotation. Do you ask this question because the main character is black? It's necessary to understand that in Shakespeare's time racial divisions were not as we see them today. Another answer: I would hold that the play is oddly both racist and accepting of racial differences. It does contain some of what I would call racist remarks, such as when Iago tells Brabantio that "even now, very now, an old black ram [Othello] is topping your white ewe [Desdemona]." Such passages would seem to refute critics who say that the play treats Othello's race as ambiguous, i.e., perhaps only swarthy as a Moorish North African -- ethnically Arab or Berber -- might be expected to look. It seems to me more likely that Shakespeare and his audience were prone to confuse Africans' physical features and races and treat "Moor" as synonymous with black Africans, as reflected in the term "blackamoor." On the other hand, I think there may be some attestation for their use of "black" to mean simply anyone who wasn't blond. Even so, aside from a general tendency by other characters to treat Othello as "other," referring to him usually simply as "the Moor," he is accepted as an equal, even respected for his military rank. So much so that apart from Iago's ribald jesting, no one seems to think his being married to Desdemona in any way remarkable. So it seems to me that Elizabethans, for all their racial and class distinctions, hadn't yet come to abhor miscegenation. I suspect this is because segregation in its full force became ingrained in the Western mind only as a symptom and enablement of the swelling tide of enslavement of Africans after the time Othello was written around 1600.

Why is Othello called a domestic tragedy?

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The classification of Shakespeare's plays as "Histories" "Comedies" and "Tragedies" was done by the publishers of the compilation known as The First Folio. In this edition, the full title of the play is "The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice", and it is classed among the tragedies.

Some people will want to discuss whether this play falls within the conventions and definitions of tragedy drawn from Aristotle by later critics. It is important to know that this is a highly artificial and academic definition which Shakespeare himself does not use, and which hinges on whether there is a "tragic hero" as described by Aristotle (Basically, Oedipus in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex).

Some will say Othello is not a tragedy. Othello is not a tragic hero, Iago manipulates him. Othello falls for it because essentially he has to, he is an outsider. Also, Iago has about 200 more lines than Othello. If Iago is considered the central character, then he can in no way be considered a tragic hero.

Others will say that 'Othello' is a tragedy as he follows the conventions of a 'tragic hero'. A tragic hero is someone who has a flaw, and that flaw leads to his downfall. Othello's flaw is that he is naive and believes "honest Iago" to be exactly that, honest. Becuase of his trusting nature he declines and he ends his life realising he has nothing to live for. Iago does maniplulate Othello. But just because Iago has more control over the characters before the final scene in Act 5, doesn't mean he is the main character.

Another point of view is that the definition of 'hero' in literature has changed, and there may be better ways of deciding whether something is a tragedy than seeing how close the main character comes to Oedipus. Keep in mind that Shakespeare was a man who was beyond his time. He wrote in a very modern way. He isn't called the father of literature for no reason. In short, do we not feel like our guts are kicked out when we see this man, torn between his brain and his heart, who destroys the one he loves and who truly loves him only to find out minutes later that it was all a con job? I think so, and if that's not tragedy I don't know what is.

To conclude, 'Othello' is in fact, a tragedy. It is known as "Shakespeare's greatest tragedy".

The villain in Othello is?

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Iago is, although he is more likely to get others to do bad things than to do them himself. He does murder Roderigo, after egging him on to kill Cassio. He also induces Othello to murder Desdemona.
The villain in Othello is Iago as he twists Othello's mind and gets him to kill Desdemona, steals from Roderigo and kills him, kills Emilia, wounds Cassio and ruins his job.

Who is Desdemona's father in Othello?

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Brabantio is Desdemona's father. He becomes very upset when Desdemona elopes with Othello and accuses Othello of committing witchcraft in order to woo his daughter. Othello denies any wrongdoing and Brabantio warns Othello that if Desdemona deceived her father, she can deceive Othello as well. Brabantio dies from a broken-heart resulting from Desdemona's marriage.

What is the overall meaning of the play Othello?

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The main conflict is the internal one within Othello, between his love of Desdemona and his fear that Iago is right about her being an adultress.

How does Iago get back in Othello's good graces?

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Iago tells Cassio that he must persuade Othello to reinstate him. He says "the general's wife is now our general" and so the best way to persuade Othello is to get Desdemona to plead on Cassio's behalf. Since Iago has also told Othello that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair, the harder Desdemona pleads, the worse it is going to look for both her and Cassio.

Why does Othello hit desdemona?

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Not because he is mean; he is not at heart a cruel man. But he has been so tortured by jealousy that he is angry with Desdemona all the while he still desperately loves her. The outrage is not only that he hits her (that's bad enough) but he hits her in public. Nobody who knew them in Venice can believe it.

Who do Othello and Brabantio go see to settle the matter with Desdemona?

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Othello insists the men put away their swords (1). He defends himself in his marriage to Desdemona (2). He demands Desdemona be brought to him (3). He insists arrangements be made for his wife to be made comfortable (4). He sends his ensign to accompany his wife (5).

Why does Brabantio oppose his daughter's marriage to Othello?

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Barbantio's reaction to Othello and Desdemona's marriage was he thought that Othello used magic on Desdemona. He couldn't believe his daughter, a Venetian woman would love a dark Moor without Othello using magic.

Are Desdemona and Othello married?

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He is one of the commanders but raised in position by othello as liutenant.

What characters are like Iago in Othello?

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He is Othello's ensign and the villain. He is selfish, narcissistic, extremely intelligent, two-faced, and deceitful.

How does Othello plan to kill desdemona?

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Iago says, "Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated." Iago's advice is to kill her in her bed, not to use the bedsheet (you could strangle someone that way, but that's not what Iago says). Othello responds with "Good, good! The justice of it pleases! Very good!"

What is Brabantio accusing Othello of?

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Brabantio disapproves of Othello and the relationship he has with Brabantio's daughter Desdemona. This is not because Othello is not worthy of Desdemona because he is a much respected officer, but because he is a Moor (in that time an African) and therefore considered beneath the Italian people.

How many people die in the play Othello?

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There are eight individuals who die during the play, three of them offstage :

Hamlet himself, King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes, Ophelia, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet's father is dead before the play opens, and only his Ghost appears.

(It's also implied that the servant Reynaldo dies, although that has to be interpreted.)

How does fate play a role in Othello and Hamlet?

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That it affects the choices of the main characters is the role of fate in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban monarchs Laius and Jocasta hear that their son Oedipus is fated to grow up to kill his father. So they leave him to die from exposure on the mountains outside Thebes. But Oedipus manages to survive, only to hear a similarly prophesied fate. Like his parents, Oedipus patterns his choices against fulfillment of his fate as his father's killer, his mother's husband and his children's half-sibling.

Why does cassio get Othello's estate?

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In Act II Scene 3, Iago knows that Cassio's weakness is unable to tolerate alcohol therefore he targets this weakness and persuades Cassio to drink with him. At first Cassio said no to Iago's offer because he was assigned to be on duty at night however, he ends up drinking anyways because of Iago's persistent persuasion. Iago's plan was slowly progressing. After a great amount of alcohol consumption, Cassio became drunk and went to the washroom by himself. While he was doing his business, an unknown man which was Roderigo disguised with a beard, pushed him from behind. This action angers Cassio therefore he chases the "unknown man". At the same time, Iago was talking to Montano about Cassio's drinking problem. Cassio runs into Iago and Montano, a fight occurs and Montano gets injured as Iago stabs him without anyone else noticing. The fight causes Othello to appear and strips Cassio of his rank because "he" injured Montano.

Why do Othello trust lago?

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There are a few different interpretations about why Iago hates Othello so much he is intent on destroying him. The most obvious is explained in the very first scene, where Iago is talking to Roderigo and expresses his anger at how Othello gave the position of lieutenant to Cassio and not Iago which he believes is unjust, since Cassio only knows "bookish theoric."

However later in the play one of Iago's soliloquies explains his (likely paranoid) suspicions that Othello had "bedded Emilia," his wife. There are also theories that Iago is actually in love with Othello so is jealous and hates him for marrying Desdemona, but I would think that the first interpretation would be your best bet.

Does iago convince roderigo to kill Othello?

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Cassio is still alive by the end ofOthello. This is the only area in which Iago fails in his scheme. It was intended by Iago that Cassio die and he uses Roderigo to try and accomplish this but Roderigo fails (though he severely wounds Cassio). The concept demonstrates that not everything can be coldly calculated. Life is extremely unpredictable.

Why does Iago oppose Othello?

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Iago opposes Othello because Othello chose to promote Cassio to lieutenant instead of Iago. Also, Iago is prejudice against Othello for his skin colour. Othello was a victim of the time he lived in.

How does cassio die in Othello?

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Rodrigo is stabbed by cassio and killed. Bianca does not die.

How old is Iago in Othello?

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In Act One Scene 3 Iago says "I have looked upon the world for four times seven years" which means he's twenty-eight. Othello is middle-aged, but his age is not given in the text. Iago calls him an "old black ram".

Who is Brabantio in the play Othello?

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Brabantio is a Venetian senator who is Desdemona's father. He becomes Othello's father-in-law when Desdemona elopes with Othello in the beginning of the play. Brabantio is very unhappy with their sudden marriage. He accuses Othello of performing witchcraft on his daughter to make her fall in love with her. Othello denies this. Brabantio warns Othello that if his daughter deceived him, she can deceive Othello as well. In Act V, it is discovered that Brabantio died broken-hearted as a result of Desdemona's marriage to Othello.

How did Othello get desdemona to be his wife?

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Othello got Desdemona to be his wife through what is assumed to be witchcraft, to which he admits in Act 3 Scene 4 of the play. He used a charmed handkerchief which he gave Desdemona as his first gift to her.

How did lago trick Othello into thinking cassio was bragging and gloating about his affair with Desdemona?

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Othello was just out of earshot when Iago talks to Cassio. He has told Othello that he is talking to Cassio about Desdemona but he is really talking about the woman that Cassio is really having an affair with, Bianca.